The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Sisters push Lancers to title
LA VERNE >> During the Western Christian girls soccer team’s playoff run, few things were more important than keeping a clean sheet.
On Saturday, despite conceding its first goal of CIF-SS Division 4 playoffs, the Lancers responded with a late second-half goal by Ashleya Farrell to capture the title, defeating El Rancho 2-1.
“We’ve been a team that fights, no matter what the (weather) conditions,” Western Christian coach Bryan Duckett said. “It’s unfortunate we couldn’t put the ball away in the first part of the second half, but we just kept pushing until we finally got that good cross for that second goal.”
Before Farrell scored the winning goal with seven minutes to play, her sister, senior forward Mckayla Farrell, put the Lancers up in the first minute of play. Western Christian relied on the sister combination and took advantage of El Rancho’s backline in one-on-one situations.
Mckayla Farrell took full advantage of her pace in the opening minute and ran onto a ball played over the top of the El Rancho defense. A giant puddle stopped the long ball and allowed the UC Davis signee to run onto the ball and slot it into the back of the net before the oncoming El Rancho goalkeeper Ayannara Flores, giving the Lancers a 1-0 lead.
In the 30th minute, the Dons lost senior captain Crystal Moreno to injury. Moreno, who was carried off and did not return to the game, dictated the midfield play for as the Dons outshot the Lancers 6-2 in the first half.
“Unfortunately, we just couldn’t finish our chances in the first half,” El Rancho coach Stephanie Galvan said. “We had to adjust to the injury. Crystal has been huge for us. But we had to adjust to the best of our ability.”
After withstanding a Western Christian barrage of shots and scoring opportunities in the opening seven minutes of the second half, the Dons equalized in the 50th minute. After the Lancers brought down Yammile Picon for a foul just outside of the penalty area on a breakaway, the Dons struck the set piece off the crossbar before Amy Flores cleaned up the scramble in the box, tying it 1-1.
However, the Lancers continued to dictate play in the second half and continued to create chances. The Lancers outshot the Dons 8-3 in the second half, seven of which were on target and required seven saves by Ayannara.
The Lancers finally found the back of the net in the 73rd minute. After Western Christian sprayed a pass out wide to the right flank, the Lancers played a low, driven cross across before Ashelya Farrell redirected the pass into the bottom left corner, eventually securing a Division IV CIF-SS title.